Assessing+Student+Creativity+Assignment

**Summary of Lesson﻿ ** The existing assignment / lesson that I have chosen to use for module 6 is my Globe Theater activity. This lesson takes place during my Romeo and Juliet PBL project. It is a scaffolding assignment that I use to teach the Elizabethan time period and theater during the sixteenth century. Students are currently working with a partner during the Romeo and Juliet, R+J, project, for this assignment they are asked to “merge” / collaborate with another team to complete the task. The task is to build “a miniature version of the theater that the William Shakespeare Foundation hopes to display for visitors in their exhibit as well as use to secure funding for their next large-scale construction project of a life-size Globe Theater”. The assignment is given to the students in a letter within am envelope from the William Shakespeare Foundation in Verona, Italy. The envelope also includes a rubric from the Foundation for more clarity about the specifications for the display.

**Reflection with Student Examples ** I found this to be one of my favorite and most exciting scaffolding activities. My students amazed me with their creativity! I created the rubric and really left it open for student choice and imagination, and it really paid off. The first student example is a Globe heater constructed from graham crackers, marshmallows, gummy bears, hot glue, and Popsicle sticks. This particular group was in my block before lunch, so I think that it is fair to say they had food on their mind. This group worked and collaborated really well together. Everyone brought in supplies, and physically build their model. There were times when one student was using the hot glue gun, another student was counting marshmallows, another student was making labels for the different sections of the theater, and the final student was holding what was just glued until the cooled. The second student example was created by a group of boys that really like to work with wood and power tools. They spent an entire weekend and several evenings after school creating their model. This model is construction with scrap lumber, roofing shingles, paint, wire, nails, and liquid nails. These boys really got into this assignment; they used one of the father’s home design computer programs to map out their ideas. The third and final student example was also created by a group of boys, but they returned to their elementary schools years when they would spent the night with one another and create large cities out of their Legos. This group built their Globe Theater out of Legos and covered it with construction paper to keep the color scheme authentic. This group, too, spent several after school and weekend evenings together. They also included a “setting” for their theater with a painted board with a stream and boat and an additional building mimicking the architecture from the 16th Century. This scaffolding assignment incorporated so many standards and skills and proved to be an effective technique to solidify students’ understand and knowledge of the Elizabethan period, 16th Century theater, and collaboration skills.

**Reflection of Rubric/ Assessment ** I had chosen to use a rubric for this scaffolding assignment, and I am so glad I did. Each team of students were able to create their own replica and prove their level of mastery for the prescribed standards. This made the final product personal, to the students, and original and fun for me to grade because no two models were identical. Students also displayed a high level of pride and excitement during this activity. I make this claim because I had students wanting to stay after school or come in during lunch and work on their theater as well as bring other students or faculty to admire their creations. Several students stopped our principal and superintendent during lunch one day and invited them into class, so they could see what they were working on. As soon as they walked in, they were mobbed by my //high school//students to see their projects. Our superintendent commented to me later, “At first, I thought I was in an elementary art class with that much enthusiasm and organized chaos!” I found this to be a very rewarding and educational experience for both my students and myself. This assignment imprinted memories for my students that a traditional standardize type test would never have done. The three groups of students outlined above not only excelled creativly and collaborativly but also academically. Their mastery of knowledge of the Globe Theater and its unique constrcution is reflected in their rubic scores. This assignment appealed to all learning styles, where as a standardized test would never come close to meeting the needs of all students’ learning requirements. I learned that utilizing a rubric for my assessment fostered student creativity, interest, ownership and at the same time tested their knowledge of the Globe Theater and 16th Century theater.
 * **Collaboration Team** || **Globe Theater Rubric Scores** ||
 * “Candy Group” ||  Final Score: 48/50   ||
 * “Actual Lumber Group” ||  Final Score: 46/50   ||
 * “Lego Group” ||  Final Score: 49/50   ||

Rubric for Globe Theater scaffolding assignment

Letter to Students, introducing activity 

Graded Rubrics (1 Rubric all 3 groups grades)